Bound Brook woman pleads guilty to arson charge

Yanilda Rosario, 39, in this photo courtesy of the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.

SOMERVILLE — A Bound Brook woman has pleaded guilty to charges that she tried to burn down a house in Bound Brook last year while her boyfriend and five other people were still inside, her attorney said Sunday.

Yanilda Rosario, 39, accepted a plea deal Friday that could put her behind bars for seven years, attorney James Wronko said. She would have to serve 85 percent of her sentence before she can be eligible parole, he said.

According to authorities, Rosario set the fire on Sept. 18 by flicking a lit cigarette into a closet inside her boyfriend’s apartment in the two-story Vosseller Avenue house. She then walked into a common hallway and ignited curtains with a lighter.

An eyewitness told investigators that Rosario left the house moments before the fire was discovered.

The fire grew quickly, forcing two residents on the house’s second floor, a 29-year-old pregnant woman and a 25-year-old man, to jump out a window, authorities said. Two other residents escaped through the front door, while a 49-year-old tenant tried to put out the burning curtains.

Firefighters arrived to find Rosario’s 45-year-old boyfriend unconscious in his bedroom and lying face-down with burns to his body.

Rosario was arrested days later, and faced six counts of aggravated arson and one count of aggravated assault.

Wronko said Rosario would be sentenced in the next couple months, but wasn’t immediately able to provide an exact date.